nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 21, 2017 10:10:04 GMT
It lives! Running a CDR of Dark Saviour, 60hz and Mod chip working Action Replay running Dead or Alive Jap release, 60hz Outrun running full screen 60hz from Sega Ages, although I did not know about the poor "optimisation" on the PAL versions, so I will be selling this and getting the JAP versions of these. What was the problem? I think it was microscopic Solder splatter. I could not see anything, but on top of the PLL was a very faint grey "dust", had to scrape it off with a screwdriver (I could only see it with my magnifiying glass), then I went around the chip very gently with a screwdriver gently making sure there wasn't any more left. Put it all back and it works! I did remove the PLL pin grounding though, and on my tests only 1 out of 10 powerups failed to boot. That's fine for me. Obviously if you are selling Saturns modded this won't be acceptable. Microscopic solder spatter managed to ground a few other pins on the PLL and cause the problem... And I ordered a new Saturn last night I was using lead free solder and I had been told in the past to find the lead version as it is far better. But Zyrobs guide works, and hopefully others can look at my mistakes and learn. My soldering is much better already Just look out for solder spatter
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 21, 2017 5:18:43 GMT
Hate to say it, but I warned ya... EDIT: Problem solved in a post below, do not recommend lifting the VDP pinIt would have been easier for this model to lift the pin 79 on the VDP to be honest. The PLL chip is tiny. I've ordered a model 2 off ebay with 11 games and 2 controllers for £50 Not too bad. Street fighter alpha 2 and Sonic Jam were in the bundle and that is pretty valuable. So not all bad. At least I have spare CD drive and PSU I'll have a real dig around in my old model 1 and see if I can repair this.
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 20, 2017 18:53:17 GMT
Not to my eyes it doesn't look like anything is wrong. I'll take a good hard look at it tomorrow and take lots of pictures. See if anyone can spot anything
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 20, 2017 10:41:39 GMT
I re-routed the cable from the PLL pin 1 from the PSU ground to the PLL ground pins. Still flickering image.
Removed the cable completely and found the picture doesn't work at all. The Saturn boots and the sound works, but no image. Think its dead. Maybe I fried the PLL chip connecting it to the PSU ground? I'll look into getting a Jap Saturn and maybe just soft modding the action replay cart instead.
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 19, 2017 17:02:53 GMT
Thanks Zyrobs. There really should be a guide to this model of Saturn out there. When I get round to moving this ground point, and if it works I'll compile all the photos I have of this. To be honest, this pin on the pll is smaller than the vdp pin. Why do you recommend this way of doing it considering it is probably just as tricky? Sorry for asking so many questions, but you seem to be the only person in the Internet who knows how to mod this Saturn version. Thanks again
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 19, 2017 9:36:47 GMT
Thinking Mattius is making sense now Soldered the IC20 pin to the earth on the PSU pins, but it is now overclocking the system even when the sw4 pins are not connected. The display is distorted. Do I need to put a resistor in or find a different ground point? If we have no idea what is going on I'll just have to go out and get a model 2 which is much easier. The SW4 pins are clean and not bridged, and the pins on the IC20 chip are clean. (The G/Y wire is going to a mod chip, and I disconnected that and still the same problem. It may have been easier to solder to pin 79 of the graphics chip after all)
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 19, 2017 6:12:35 GMT
With a 60hz switch I think Jap games play fine on a PAL saturn, either region mod or action replay of course.
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 19, 2017 5:45:32 GMT
TBH mate, I'd just get a Japanese machine. I looked into modding my PAL Saturn, but it's a bit of a clusterfuck compared to 60Hz modding a MegaDrive. Japanese machines are pretty damn cheap. Got mine, complete with power converter and cables for about £50. It wasn't that hard to be honest. With nearly all Saturn models the procedure is really easy, plenty of youtube videos and DIY guides all over the internet. The problem is with my model, the early 1995 launch Saturn's. The only information I found was the posts in this thread by Zyrobs and a few archived threads with all the photos missing. Cutting the trace was easy, fitting the switch on the SW4 port was easy, fitting the modchip was easy. It is beyond my abilities to lift the PLL chip pin1 though and ground it, (which is why I didn't want to lift pin 79 on the graphics chip either) but I have a friend who did an electronics degree who can solder anything popping round later this morning to do that bit for me. Most Saturns are just 2 blobs on solder on SW4 pads and a switch. Anyway thanks Zyrobs for your invaluable help and knowledge, I'll post more photos as this model Saturn is really lacking information online. Hopefully it will help others. I may even change the thread title so it can be found much easier by search engines.
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 18, 2017 14:37:46 GMT
That's a VA1 PAL board. Due to a design snafu, the SW4 pads are connected to the PLL too, not just the VDP2. So if you use SW4 to switch into 60hz, the machine will end up running at 34MHz, which will cause a buggered image due to the master clock being used as the pixel clock. You either need to cut the trace leading to the PLL pin 1 and then ground it separately, or lift the PLL pin 1 and ground it. Then you can use SW4 as intended. Thanks very much! It took some searching to find the PLL, but it was labelled as "315-5746" and is IC20. When you say to ground it, I just cut the trace and it switched into 60hz seamlessly, is there anything else I need to do? This is the first console I've modded, although I've built quite a few PC's over the years. I couldn't find any pictures of it, so attaching one for anyone else stuck. I just booted up outrun and shorted between the SW4 pads and it worked, off to go solder this all together now. IC20 location on board before trace cut: (Its the little chip below the 3 capacitors, arrow pointing to it from the left) IC20 trace cut:
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 18, 2017 11:06:37 GMT
Basically I need help to see if my console is a PAD sd model or pal model 1 (which can only be done by lifting pin 79 as far as I know) I took the console to work and I'm not sure if the crap old TV doesn't support 60hz when I jumped across "SW4" as the music sounds fine but the image flickers. I may just have to take it home where I know my TV supports 60hz, but I'm being impatient and want to find out today
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 18, 2017 7:54:07 GMT
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 18, 2017 5:40:14 GMT
A select number of UK high street electronic retailers participated in a deal over the last few months of 1996 where they'd give away copies of Christmas NiGHTS with the rarer cardboard sleeve if you bought any two games from a selection that I seem to recall including Daytona USA Championship Circuit Edition, Sega Worldwide Soccer '97, Fighting Vipers, Virtua Cop 2 and the original NiGHTS into dreams... The following year, SSM had just the disc as a cover-mounted extra, which I'm fairly sure was their "compensation" after plans for a themed sampler fell through due to licensing issues. From what I can remember, this would have featured playable demos of Exhumed, Duke Nukem 3D and Quake, plus an exclusive third revision of Death Tank especially created by Lobotomy Software in return for the support SSM provided them! I've actually got both PAL variations of Christmas NiGHTS, with the standalone disc kept next to its parent game - I used the back half of a donor box originally from the Photo CD Operating System to create my own definitive edition. You could probably achieve similar results using the Japanese versions and a double jewel case, though I'm yet to actually try this for myself. (As a side note, I also did this with Metal Gear Solid and the VR Missions disc for the PlayStation.) Has this unreleased disc from lobotomy software ever been released? Sorry to derail the thread
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 17, 2017 12:15:52 GMT
Christmas nights is really full of secrets. It is only 1 level and one boss, but you will have to play it many many times to get everything. It is time and date dependent as well for many features. Also it was the first time sonic appeared in full 3D in a game.
I have a copy, got it from a magazine so it is cd only, but I believe there is a full release version with case. I don't think there are any extra levels with it. To be fair I would recommend you to just burn a copy if you are not collecting.
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 14, 2017 16:43:09 GMT
I've only ever owned a model 1 pal Saturn, but mine is meant to be "captive". It stays in when pressed
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nevermind
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Post by nevermind on Mar 14, 2017 16:34:33 GMT
No you can just pick it up and play. Once you get used to the controls it is pretty good. The sequel looks like it can be played with little Japanese knowledge from the YouTube video I've seen of it. I'll definitely hunt gun griffon 2 down.. It supports the Saturn link cable apparently
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